Meeting Sally Melville...part two

As I mentioned in my last second to last post, Sally Melville was in town this past week for a couple of workshops and meet and greets around town. I work most days at Wool & Co. and it was definitely exciting to have her stroll in and out while I was working.

Me with Sally Melville

Now, I try to be as honest as I can in this blog. And, before working at Wool, I was not very familiar with Sally's work. And even as news of her rolling into town spread, I still didn't really know what to make of this lady, BUT now I know. And she is pretty incredible.

While I was unable to attend any of her workshops (pesky computer science exams, boo), I did have the pleasure of seeing her speak at the Fox Valley Knitter's Guild meeting on Wednesday evening. Matt's mom, who is a huge fan and owns all of her books, accompanied me and it was a nice little venture for both of us. Hey! We're guild members now :)

The topic for the evening was how to make the most of your yarn collection and pairing colors/tints/textures together to make something beautiful and cohesive. I like to think I have a good grasp on which colors go together and how to arrange them, but Sally pointed out something rather revolutionary: ALL colors go together!

What? All colors? No, you can't be serious. But, as it turns out,  they do. Now, you can't exactly pair a pastel with a pure and saturated color, but you can pair pretty much any pastel with any other pastel. Weird, huh? And it makes sense. I remember when I was making my second Calliope hat I decided that I wanted to use a dark red yarn and green/blue buttons. Kate questioned my decision, but, in the end, it all worked out. Because they were the right shades of red and green and their "tones" complimented one another.

Knitting and signing

So, Sally has inspired me to sort my stash...one of these days. I went into work Thursday evening, the night following her talk at the guild, and heard rumblings of the aftershock. Apparently more than one guild member went home that night (or, in the case of one, woke up at 4:30 that next morning) and dove into their stash.

Sally also hosted a meet and greet at the shop on Thursday evening. She was kind enough to sign books and allowed us to try on samples from some of her newest books.

Samples

Sally modeling her designs

Sample from Mother and Daughter Knits

I tried on this one...no action shot.

Some of the ladies

All in all Sally's visit was very exciting and inspiring. Hopefully I will be able to put some of her suggestions to the test. Y'know, when my 19 pound box of yarn arrives this week. But more on that later...;)

Final Day...a day late. Crafting on planes and trains, etc.

I read a quote a few months back that I really adored. It was something simple, something along the lines of "Knitting: it's sitting, for creative people." I could not agree with that statement more.

I always have at least one project in my purse/school bag/what have you. Matt never fails to make fun of me for this, but, as I have explained so many times, you never know when you might be able to sneak in a row. One of the reasons I really miss school is because I had soooo much more knitting time than I do now, if you can believe it. My professors had no qualms about letting me knit in class, just so long as I kept up and paid attention. I don't know if they understood that it actually helped me pay better attention or not, but they didn't say much and neither did I.

Nowadays the only class I sit through is Computer Science 1 and that is a very "hands-on" class (well, duh) and I don't have any knitting opportunities. I work most days and, while I wish we could, we can't knit at work. There is always something to do or someone to help. I love it when customers come to me for help because not only does it help to nurture my knitting and teaching skills, but I actually get to knit, even if it is only a few stitches. And most of the time I learn something new as well.

The strangest place I've knit? Hmm, that depends on how you define strange. I brought my knitting with me to my (boring) undergraduate graduation practice. It was TWO hours long on a hot Friday evening last June. Really? You expect me NOT to knit? I didn't bring my knitting with to actual graduation...I could have, but I had my camera shoved up my sleeve instead.

But I knit everywhere and am not ashamed :) I can knit in the dark (I LOVE knitting at the drive-in) and while I'm talking to people. I can knit in the car, on the train, and, I would imagine, on a plane. I knit in bars and on dates, during drinking sessions (not always the best idea) and during "bitchfests" with my best rant buddies.

So, to conclude blog week, don't ever be afraid to knit in "weird places" and remember these words of wisdom:

Knitting: it's sitting, for creative people.